Ah, Pixar, nothing says a good summer movie like Disney and Pixar! Pixar has been pumping out big stories and hits since 1995’s “Toy Story” and has found varying degrees of success in recent years. They were riding high until Covid, then seemed to hit a slow patch, but things appear to be back on the right path now with “Elemental” last year and this week’s pick “Inside Out 2”. But before I go any further, here is your official spoiler warning. After this paragraph, plot points will be discussed and reviewed, so if you’re anxious about not being spoiled, head back to the homepage here and check out some other material I have ready to read.
Ok, so Inside Out 2, is the latest Pixar film, and it’s directed by first-time movie director Kelsey Mann. Although she has done some writing for a few other Pixar projects, this is her first time behind the camera for a feature-length film. With most of the cast coming back, she probably had an easier chance to make a hit here.
Speaking of, Bill Hader (Fear, now voiced by Tony Hale) and Mindy Kaling (Disgust now voiced by Liza Lapira) are the only two people that didn’t come back for part two. So, this one starts off with the original five emotions giving us viewers a recap of what has happened in Riley’s (voiced by Kensington Tallman) life since we last saw them. Joy (Amy Poehler) is still the main driver as she is the one introducing everything and also the one who is choosing which memories she wants Riley to remember. Along with Fear and Disgust, Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and the always-entertaining Anger (Lewis Black) round out the five emotions in her head.
As Riley is getting ready to go to hockey camp, this is where things start to get interesting inside her mind. A demo crew shows up and starts tearing everything apart to make room for some new emotions. This is when we meet Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos). As a side note, I’m not sure why Riley’s emotion would be a French word since she’s American in the movie, it doesn’t ruin anything, but I just find it interesting.
Almost immediately, Anxiety takes over and has the original five emotions hauled away to the vaults of Riley’s mind. (The vault portion of the movie is not only the funniest but probably my favorite as well). A large portion of the movie sort of plays out like Anxiety is a villain and even though she does a lot wrong, in her mind (very meta huh?) she is doing what she thinks is best for Riley. She is slowly starting to turn all of her core beliefs into what she wants, thinking it will help Riley out in the future.
The story is really divided up into three sections. The first is Riley’s real life and what she is going through trying to make the hockey team. The second is Anxiety and her gang and the third is Joy and the original emotions. As Joy and the others try to find a way back to headquarters, Anxiety and the other new emotions are wreaking havoc on Riley’s social life. Eventually, Sadness sneaks her way back in through a tube that recalls memories. She and Embarrassment are able to work together somewhat since he feels bad for what Anxiety is doing to Riley.
Just as Sadness is about to bring back Joy, Fear, Disgust, and Anger, she is stopped and their way back is destroyed. With Riley hanging on by a thread and all hope about lost for Joy, Anger comes up with a hilarious idea. He calls for Pouchy (a funny callback to an even funnier moment from the vault earlier in the film). They blow up the wall causing a flood of forgotten memories to cascade in like a tidal wave and bringing the emotions back just in time to stop Anxiety and save Riley at the same time.
It’s all very “emotional”, exciting, and nail-biting all at the same time. It’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from not only these characters but from Pixar as well. The cast of emotions (which is now up to nine) all work well together on the screen and you can imagine that’s exactly how they would act inside of a teenager’s head at that age. I should know since we have one in our house!!! Hawke is a great addition to the emotion family and Anxiety steals the show for the newcomers (the same way Anger steals the show from the original group).
Like I said earlier, it appears that Pixar is back to its old self now after seeing this and it excites me for their future. This movie is full of heart, emotion of all kinds, and lots of humor like only Disney can do. I easily give this an 8 out of 10 and I can’t wait to watch it again.
What did you think of the movie? Who is your favorite emotion? Did you like the direction of the story? Let me know in the comments below and I will see you next time for another Mindless Movie review.
